


Heroics

by TheSpaceCoyote



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Single Dad AU, angst and then fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 11:13:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6903547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpaceCoyote/pseuds/TheSpaceCoyote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Jack coughed, feeling the air growing thinner and thinner as he zeroed in on a smell that he had come to know very, very well underneath the scent of burning metal and blood.</p>
<p>The smell led him through the fog of the disaster and against the burn in his lungs until he fell upon two lone figures lying propped against a pile of debris. Fear coiled up thick in Jack’s stomach as the CEO landed with a thud before them, hands clawing angrily at the dust still thick in the air as he sought out the source of the crying."</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>Single Dad AU side story done for a Tumblr prompt. Cyrus and Rhys are caught in a collapse at Helios and need to be saved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heroics

Jack swore that Helios seemed to be falling apart like a wet paper  _bag_  lately. 

Some people in maintenance and repair were going to die for this. Hell, maybe Jack should just waste the entire department and replenish it with some new blood, people who actually knew what the fuck they were doing so part of a goddamn corridor wouldn’t collapse out of nowhere. 

Jack shouted himself hoarse at the peons scrambling about away from the wreckage of the stricken hallway, waving his gun around and threatening to shoot them if they didn’t get the hell out. Threatening them with death even in the face of a different death seemed to work, in a weird circular fashion. They scrambled away from the debris, parting around Jack even as they stumbled, disoriented or bleeding as they fled through the metallic dust in the air, fogging red with the alarms blaring from the intact walls. Jack swore as he felt his breathing grow harder and harsher, taking in air faster and faster and yet it didn’t feel like enough.  _Fuck_. The explosion must have been worse than he’d initially estimated, if the life support systems were starting to fail.

Jack knew the structure of Helios inside and out—once the supply of oxygen in certain segments fell below a certain level, they’d be sealed off until the issue was address and concentration properly stabilized. Any poor sap who lingered in the effected areas would be locked in by impenetrable doors and left to suffocate, their stricken corpse only found once the doors unsealed. 

And yeah, Jack had the ability to override the doors, but by the time that the mechanism was triggered the air would be so thin that even Jack wouldn’t be able to summon the strength to open them up. It would be best to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible. Handsome Jack wasn’t about to suffocate to death in a sealed-off hallway. Nuh-uh. There’s was still too much to do, things he needed to find and fight and kill and save and  _protect_. 

Deciding that whoever left in the pile of debris was on there own, at this point, Jack sheathed his gun and made to sprint in the other direction, when a soft,  _familiar_  cry reached his ears between the blaring cadence of the alarms. Jack froze, cold fear creeping up his spine as he jerked back towards the wreckage even as every survival instinct in his body screamed not to. He strained his ears towards the cry as he clawed his way through the damaged hallway. The alpha’s nostrils flared, sense of smell taking over the blindness left by the dust clouding up his vision. Jack coughed, feeling the air growing thinner and thinner as he zeroed in on a smell that he had come to know very, very well underneath the scent of burning metal and blood. 

The smell led him through the fog of the disaster and against the burn in his lungs until he fell upon two lone figures lying propped against a pile of debris. Fear coiled up thick in Jack’s stomach as the CEO landed with a thud before them, hands clawing angrily at the dust still thick in the air as he sought out the source of the crying. 

“ _M-Mr. Jack_!” Cyrus screamed, voice choked and terrified. The kid was covered in dirt, shirt and jacket torn and singed in places, his face bruised and eyes red and swollen with tears. His breath was coming quickly from small, trembling lips as his fists clung tightly against his mother’s still form.  

For a moment Jack’s heart leapt at the sight of Rhys—the omega looked  _dead_ , if he was being honest. Rhys lay limp and broken amidst the debris, clothing burned away in places, face bruises and splattered with blood. The omega’s legs were pinned underneath thick slabs of shattered concrete, blood seeping out from between the cracks. His ECHOeye was seizing, flicking brightly before dimming down again as he tried to focus on the CEO. Worst of all was the thick piece of jagged rebar jammed straight into the omega’s shoulder, driven with enough force to tear completely through the flesh and explode more blood all over the omega’s body. 

“J….Jack?” Rhys gurgled, teeth stained with blood. Jack’s hand cupped the omega’s face, trying to get Rhys to look at him. 

“Hey, it’s all right, kitten. I’ve got you, I’ve got you and the kiddo, you’re gonna be safe, ‘kay?” Jack tried to sound encouraging and confident but Rhys shook his head, spit bubbling red on his split lip.

“J-Jack…Jack I need you to…I need you to take Cyrus…” The omega’s free hand pawed weakly at the child curled up against him, eyes dazed and struggling but serious as they met Jack’s. The alpha’s teeth set in a frustrated scowl, hands clumsily grabbing at Rhys’ pierced shoulder, scanning the rebar puncturing it, trying to think of a plan, because the omega was being  _stupid_. Jack would smack him if he wasn’t already dying. 

“Don’t be an idiot, cupcake, just hold on a second, and I’ll get you free—“

“ _No_ —“ Rhys gritted his teeth against Jack jostling his wound, tears pricking at his eyes. “He…h-he can barely breath, J-Jack he…he needs to get out….p-please…” The omega sobbed hoarsely, the diminishing oxygen leaving little air for much else. Jack’s eyes trickled down to the child still clutching onto his mom’s body. Cyrus was hyperventilating, the stress of the oxygen loss too much on his little body. Fuck. Fuck,  _fuck_. Jack swore to himself, looking frantically from Rhys to the kid and back to Rhys and god, Jack needed a goddamn second— 

“Rhysie…Rhysie…fuck…fuck… _damn it_ …” Jack snarled, cracking his fist against the bloody concrete. He pressed forward, desperation fueling a kiss to the omega’s split lips. He lingered longer than he had time for, chasing his omega’s scent and warmth, trying to imprint it permanently into his skin. He pulled away, meeting Rhys’ dazed eyes for only a moment more before grabbing Cyrus, wrenching his weak grip away from his mother as he stood. The alpha gave one last, painful look at Rhys’ body before stealing away. He vaulted over small piles of wreckage, nearly tripping a few times on snapped wires and limp bodies in his mad dash away from the omega he had left to die.

Cyrus was screaming as hard as he could manage, thrashing around in Jack’s arms, half of his little body twisting over Jack’s shoulder as the CEO sprinted away with him. Jack set his teeth in a rigid clench, pushing down the hollow feeling of loss and dread inside of him as he focused only on the task at hand. 

Eventually the hallway opened out into a small hub where the injured personnel had gathered, swarmed by emergency teams handing out oxygen masks and tending to wounds. Jack snarled at anyone who dared try to approach him, grief and pain overwhelming him as he held Cyrus in his arms. The child was still screaming, pawing at Jack’s chest with frantic fists as he wept. 

“No..! Mr. Jack, you…you can’t…you can’t leave mom there you can’t! You have to….” Globs of tears coursed down the child’s cheeks, face red from sobbing. “Please…please save my mommy…” He wailed, burying his face in the man’s chest. The alpha’s heart twisted, horrible pain coursing through him as he felt the vibrations of the boy’s screams in his bones.

The alpha’s heart was breaking, head swimming with the image of Rhys lying back there, alone, pinned and bleeding and slowly losing air, about to be sealed off and left to die—

He snarled a death threat at a frightened beta emergency worker and shoved Cyrus into her arms, commanding her to have him hooked up to an oxygen mask before he was off again, sprinting back down the hallway towards his omega. 

* * *

Rhys could feel his life slowly ebbing away from him as he laid on the debris. The pain was too much, throbbing sharply throughout his entire body, from his pierced shoulder to his pinned legs to the tightness in his chest. Everything hurt so much that Rhys just wanted to pass out already and be done with. He knew he was dying, knew it was too late for him to be saved—but at least his baby was all right. Jack would…Jack would make sure Cyrus was safe. Would raise him and protect him.

Tears welled anew in the omega’s eyes, selfishly wishing he could hold his baby one more time. His throat spasmed with the lack of air, vision swimming and dimming even further, the ECHOeye feed long cut-out. Rhys was slipping, a heavy weight settling into his body when distantly he felt the pressure of hands against him. He struggled to open his eyes wider, to focus on who was before him, but his vision was spinning. Rhys felt something soft brush up against his nose, a sudden scent making the omega gasp.

“J…Ja…” Rhys rasped, his mouth full of dust and blood, unable to get any more words out. He felt something rough claw at his shoulder, pathetic winces giving way to a hoarse scream as he felt a tearing, dragging pain in his flesh. His vision blurred into dazed strokes before his eyes tipped backwards and he sunk into darkness.   

* * *

Jack knew the danger of wrenching the rebar out of Rhys’ shoulder, but his oxygen-starved brain was buzzing and edging out rational thought, the only focus in his mind to get Rhys out and away. He pressed the omega’s agonized screams from his brain in desperation, clutching Rhys’ bleeding body to his chest. He wheezed, barely feeling the dead weight of the omega in his tingling arms. He stumbled to his feet, swaying with the sudden height, breath coming in short and scant gasps. His legs mindlessly worked, scraping as he weaved awkwardly through the crumbling debris in what he hoped was the right direction. 

The alarms pounded in his ears, echoing the stamps of his feet and the throb of his heart, a sudden cacophony of crowded scents reaching his nostrils as he sprinted—

The door slammed shut on the tip of Jack’s shirt, tearing the cloth as the alpha surged forward. He stumbling, brain unable to coordinate his limbs any longer and he fell to his knees, one hand struggling to grasp onto Rhys’ limp body as he fell to his side. Jack coughed, his chest heaving in painful jerks as he tried to intake precious air. 

The last things that Jack remembered before he blacked out where the pressure of the oxygen mask against his face and a distant, strained cry. 

* * *

Things changed, after that.

Jack never referred to the incident directly— _that_ , the word alone, was all he needed for the  memories of that terrible day to come crawling back. 

The CEO had awoken to the over-bright light of the Helios hospital, a slight soreness in his chest but little else to speak of his ordeal. Before any doctor could stop him, the alpha was tearing out of his bed, hands scrabbling about as he blindly search, rasping  _Rhys Rhys Rhys_  while nurses struggled to hold him back. But as soon as Jack recognized the omega lying in the bed across from him, nothing could keep him from the man’s side. Jack’s breath was still rough in his throat, and though he coughed and hacked in exertion he still sunk to the omega’s side and grabbed his hand. 

“Rhys…Rhysie…lemme see those pretty eyes, kitten…Rhysie…” Jack budged from the spot only to whirl on the gathered medics, angrily tearing into them about why the man wasn’t awake already, and what the  _hell_ was he paying them for if they couldn’t get Rhys to recover and wake up, and maybe they’d hurry the hell up if he loaded a couple of them into moonshots and splattered their corpses over Pandora. 

Jack’s injuries were nothing—scrapes and scratches and a slight sprain—especially when compared to Rhys’ state. Two fractured tibias, cracked ribs, the damaged ECHO, the gaping hole in his shoulder, which had come  _dangerously_  close to piercing the socket of his cybernetic. At least, that’s what the trembling doctor rattled off to Jack as the man sat by Rhys’ bedside, heart swollen with anguish and fury as he held the omega’s thin, cold hand. 

Further brain scans of the man had found no immediately evident damage from the lack of oxygen, but Rhys still didn’t wake up. The omega’s doctors argued for their life against Jack’s anger, insisting that perhaps Rhys’ body was recovering from the trauma, and that there was no reason why the omega  _shouldn’t_ wake up in due time. 

Rhys covered in bandages and medical tape and stuck full of tubes was only marginally better than Rhys soaked in blood and pale as a corpse, and that pissed the CEO off to no end. Jack had  _saved_  the damn kid, and…. _still_ … 

Jack’s only saving grace came when Cyrus was discharged from the pediatric ward and insisted on staying by Jack’s side. No one dared to pry the child away from Jack, the CEO impossible to approach or disturb without inciting his murderous anger. 

Jack’s gratitude at Cyrus’ lack of injuries—limited only to a bandaged cut above his brow and some minor bruises and burns—was weighed down by the realization that Rhys must have used his body to shield the boy from the collapse. 

Cyrus sat in Jack’s lap whenever he wasn’t curled up next to his mother. The kid cried often—something that Jack hadn’t really seen before. Cyrus wasn’t much of a crier. Seeing the kid that was usually happy smiles and bubbling energy reduced to sobbing misery was…not fun. All he could do was wrap Cyrus up in his jacket and covered the boy in his scent and reassuring words, hoping it would calm the him down. 

* * *

It took Rhys four days to wake up. Another week before he was able to breath without assistance. Most of what he did in between was hold Cyrus in his arm and sustain brief conversations with Jack, before falling back into a shallow sleep. 

The recovery out of the hospital was longer than Jack would have liked. Even with the accelerated healing provided by the best medical care in all of Helios, Rhys took awhile to get re-acclimated to walking. 

The doctors had been right in that, mentally, Rhys hadn’t sustained any lasting damage. But—emotionally—Jack could tell that the omega was different. More muted in his impulses, slower and more cautious in his words. Maybe Jack just noticed it more, because of the closer attention he was paying to the omega since the incident. He barely let Rhys leave his side, his anxiety growing every time substantial distance was placed between him and his omega. He couldn’t help it, that fear of loss creeping up the alpha’s spine every time Rhys’ warm, lithe body wasn’t pressed against his side. 

All of the things he had promised Rhys, tried to ply the omega with as he sought to bond—a seat at Jack’s right hand, power and influence beyond anything the omega had dreamed all of that had been thrown in his face—splashed cruelly back against him whenever he ruminated on how close he had been to losing Rhys.

But slowly, things started to fall into place. 

After a year of stalling and teasing, Rhys finally gave in and moved in with Jack. Before the incident, Rhys had scoffed and insisted that the apartment was perfectly fine for him and Cyrus, and Jack didn’t have to, anyway. But now, the decision came with a soft smile and a rub to the back of Jack’s hand, quiet acquiescence to the alpha’s concern. 

Rhys and Cyrus’ things mixed seamlessly with Jack’s—the big, too big space finally feeling full and warm and  _right._

Jack didn’t pressure Rhys to bond—even though he wanted to, even though it clung to the tip of his tongue every night when Jack wrapped his arms around Rhys and pressed his face against the back of the omega’s neck. For the time being, merely feeling the warm rise and press of the omega’s chest was enough to sate him.


End file.
